Explosionade

Explosionade Co-op Review

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Explosionade is a platformer/shooter hybrid with an innovative control scheme from Mommy's Best Games. An independent developer, MBG also made the award winningShoot 1Up and Weapon of Choice. Explosionade puts you behind the wheel of a gold-fueled, Mega-Nade tossing mech and lets you blast your way through 41 levels. Local drop-in, drop-out co-op is also supported for two players. Is this little game worth your hard earned cash?

It most definitely is. You can find Explosionade in the XBLA under the Indie Games tab. Like all indie games, you can get the trial for free. Or you can splurge right away and spend the 80 MS points. That's right, you get 41 levels of explosive action for just a dollar.

You play the role of First Lieutenant Terry Atticus, the lone soldier left to guard the Goliath Division base while the rest of the army goes off to fight the Horronym forces. While you are cleaning up after a plumbing accident you stumble upon a new mech prototype named GRenaDOS and decide to take it for a spin. Explosions ensue. Oh, did I mention that you look like a character from Tim and Eric Awesome Show?

Because you do.

Don't let that dissuade you. There is a lot here for 80 points. You have fully customizable controls. You can either pilot your mech as a twin stick shooter or a Contra-style shooter. Both methods work simultaneously, so you don't have to toggle between the two. You have a hover jump that can be used in tandem with a bubble shield that allows you to bounce all over the screen. It takes some getting used to, but soon you will be bouncing around everywhere. There are three difficulty levels. On top of those, you can tailor the speed of the game to your liking. The speeds range from 25% to 200%.